


Red Memories

by kathiann



Series: Red Memories Series [1]
Category: The Mentalist
Genre: Brain Injury, Drama, F/M, Gen, Romance, Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-03-11
Updated: 2009-03-23
Packaged: 2017-12-10 06:08:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 16,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/782698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kathiann/pseuds/kathiann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jane has been injured, what does the team do, and how does he cope, how does the team handle it? Some Jisbon, but not a lot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Ebony10 for being my beta.

There were two police officers standing in the foyer to the large open office. This was unusual. Usually the local cops avoided the CBI building. They didn't like that every time the CBI were around, they took over the cases. In fact, no one currently in the large room could remember the last time one of the local Sacramento police was here.

Rigsby had been sent to tell Lisbon that they were here. They had asked to speak with her. She had been in a bad mood today. Jane hadn't shown up for work yet and it was a lot later than when he usually showed up.

When he knocked on the door the grumpy response of "What?" was all the greeting he received.

"Hey, boss, there's some cops here to speak to you," Rigsby said, opening the door and poking his head in.

"So show them in. What are you waiting for?" Lisbon was really annoyed. She didn't even look up at Rigsby as she was talking to him.

"Sure thing boss." Rigsby replied. He left the door open and waved to the cops for them to come over. They entered the room and Rigsby shut the door behind him, assuming that they would like some privacy.

Rigsby went back over to his desk and looked at Lisbon office. He could see through the blinds at Lisbon still sitting at her desk and the two cops standing in front of her desk. "Hey, what do you think they're here for?" he asked no one in particular.

"Maybe she has unpaid parking tickets." Cho said in a dead pan voice.

"No, more likely they need some help with an investigation and wanted to ask in person." Van Pelt said.

They were all looking through the window now and noticed when Lisbon seemed to visibly shrink into herself. Her face went white and she looked like she was in shock. She didn't even seem to notice when the police officers turned to leave. They didn't look at anyone as they quickly left the office. It seemed like they couldn't get out fast enough.

The team looked into Lisbon's office again and noticed that she hadn't moved. Van Pelt was the first one to stand up and head toward the office. Obviously something was wrong. It took only seconds for the rest of the team to follow her.

Van Pelt knocked on the door that the police officers had left open and went in with out waiting for Lisbon to say it was ok. "Are you ok, boss? What did the cops need?"

She just sat there for what seemed like ages, but was really just a few seconds before she spoke. "There was a six car pileup this morning. Really bad. A Semi truck lost control and jackknifed on the freeway. Two people died, six people in the hospital in serious condition and three in critical condition."

"Ok," Van Pelt waited for her to go on. She was getting to something, but for some reason needed to take time getting there.

"One of the people in critical condition managed to give the police some information before he was taken into surgery. He asked them to come here and tell us what had happened." She was having a hard time controlling her emotions. Van Pelt realized what she was saying and collapsed into one of the chairs in front of the desk.

"No, you can't mean…" Rigsby started to ask, but couldn't bring himself to finish the question. Cho was just standing there. He didn't know what to do or say. He wouldn't believe it until he heard Lisbon say it herself.

Lisbon took a deep shuddering breath before continuing. "The police were here to tell me that Jane was one of the people in the pile up this morning. He's at the hospital in critical condition. They don't know if he's going to make it."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't planing to post today, but I have a bunch written, and I have a hard time being stingy. I'm not a doctor. I couldn't even make it through the cadaver lab at school with out throwing up so I will never be a doctor. As such, most of what is described in the chapter comes from watching TV, except for the survival part. That's what the doctors said when my Ex's best friend fell asleep behind the wheel and ran into a semi truck. Also thanks to Ebony 10 for being my beta.

They were all in shock. No one wanted to believe that Jane could be in the hospital, that he could be dying. He was Patrick Jane. He was supposed to be invincible. That's how he seemed to them every day.

Cho was the first one to move. "Do you want me to drive?" He asked quietly.

"Thanks, Cho." Lisbon said, slowly standing up from her desk. "I need to tell Minelli where we're going. I'll meet you all outside."

The team slowly exited the office with Lisbon bringing up the rear. She went into Minelli's office as the rest of them grabbed their stuff and headed out the door. It didn't take long for her to inform her boss that Jane had been in an accident. He told her that the team should take the rest of the day off and the next day too if they needed it.

As Lisbon was exiting the office, she looked over at the worn brown leather sofa. It seemed so bare without him on it. What were they going to do if he didn't make it? She stopped her thoughts right there. There was no point in negative thinking. It would only make things worse.

The ride to the hospital was one of silence. No one wanted to talk. No one wanted to say what they were thinking. That Jane might already be dead when they got there. The cops said that he was still in surgery, but that he was already listed as critical condition.

When they got to the hospital, Lisbon took charge. She was the boss after all and taking over that role would make her worry just a little bit less. The woman at the front desk directed them to the elevator and to the fifth floor where the operating rooms were. They told the nurse at the nursing station that they were here for Patrick Jane and were directed to a waiting room where there were already two other groups of people waiting. None of the other people looked up as they came in.

They didn't talk for hours. Every once in a while they moved around a bit. Rigsby paced around impatiently and put himself in charge of getting coffee not only for the rest of the team, but for everyone else who was also waiting.

Every time a doctor came into the waiting room, everyone stood up. Two times doctors came and both times it was for other people. Now they were left alone in the waiting room. Cho was sitting in a chair with his book out, but it was obvious that he wasn't reading. Van Pelt and Rigsby were sitting close together talking quietly. Lisbon was just staring off into space. She was trying not to let fear overcome her. She didn't know what she would do if Jane died. It was one of the worst feelings she had ever had.

She was startled from her thinking by the arrival of a doctor. "Who is it that's here for Patrick Jane?"

The whole team stood and moved to be around the doctor, but Lisbon was the one who spoke. "We're here for him. Is he ok?"

The doctor decided not to answer her question right away and instead introduced himself. "I'm Doctor Jones. I was the lead surgeon in Mr. Jane's operation."

Never one for pleasantries in a time of crisis, Cho asked the question now. "How is he?"

Dr. Jones saw that there was going to be no avoiding it and finally decided to answer. "Mr. Jane came into the ER with massive internal injuries and severe head trauma. It was pretty much a miracle that he was able to tell the police anything. He has a punctured lung, three broken ribs, and we had to remove his spleen. Most of those injuries were a result of his seat belt. We also had to operate to remove pressure on his brain."

"Is he going to be alright?" It was Van Pelt who asked the question this time.

Dr. Jones hesitated. This was always his least favorite part. "Mr. Jane is in critical condition. His chances of survival at this moment are very slim. There is good news however." He paused here and noticed that every single face around him seemed to brighten just a little bit. "If he can make it through 24 hours, his chances of survival will double. Each day he makes it, his chances are improved."

This was not the good news that Lisbon had been hoping for and it showed on her face. She was too tired to hide it right now. She looked at the doctor and asked "When can we see him?"

"Mr. Jane," Dr. Jones replied, "is on his way up to the ICU on the sixth floor. Once he's settled you'll have to check with them on how many visitors and when you can see him."

As soon as he said what floor Jane was going to be on, Lisbon and Van Pelt walked off towards the elevator. Cho followed closely behind. Rigsby shook hands with the doctor and said, "Sorry about them. We're all just a little worried. The boss is a little temperamental at the best of times and right now is not one of the best times."

"That's ok. I understand what you all are going through." Just then Rigsby heard his name being called out from by the elevator.

"Thank you, Doctor." He said, quickly shaking his hand one more time and ran towards the elevator, not wanting to be left behind.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Ebony10 for being my beta. As a reminder, I am not a doctor, so lets just assume that the way I say it is how it really is. Thanks for the reviews.

It was hard to see him hooked up to all the machinery. There were wires and tubes all over the place. Jane's head was wrapped in so many bandages it was hard to see his face. His leg seemed to be in a cast. Dr. Jones had not said anything about his leg being broken, but it would seem that it was.

They were all standing outside of the room. Only one person could see him at a time and they were still trying to decide who would go in first. Finally, Cho took the initiative and went into the room. He pulled a chair up next to the side of his bed and started talking to him quietly.

"Hey, Jane. Looks like you're pretty screwed up. You know Lisbon's taking this pretty hard. You should see her." He sat in silence for a few minutes. He was having a hard time controlling his emotions. "Um, the next time I come I'll bring one of my books. I've heard that hearing people's voices can help, um, yeah."

He looked out the window and noticed the rest of the team standing out there. He turned back to Jane and wiped his eyes. "Hey, I think everyone else wants to say hi. I'll come by later and bring a book. Do you have any requests?" He paused as if waiting for him to answer. "You know what? I'll just surprise you."

He walked out of the room and stopped in front of the rest of the team. It had been a long day and it showed on all of their faces. "I'm heading out guys. Call me if anything changes." Rigsby patted him on the back and went into the room as Cho headed for the elevator. Lisbon and Van Pelt were left standing outside the room.

"I want to see him last, ok?" Lisbon said quietly.

"Yeah, that's fine." Van Pelt sounded distracted. Who could blame her really?

Rigsby was only in the room a few minutes before he came out. He, too, looked like he had been crying. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." He said quietly. He gave Van pelt a quick hug and then rushed toward the stairs to head down. He needed the exercise to keep his mind off things.

Van Pelt looked at Lisbon and then went into the room. She sat in the chair next to the bed like the two guys had done. She picked up his hand. It seemed like the only part of his body not covered in tubes.

"I know you don't believe in God, Jane, but I hope you know I'm praying for you. I have to think that you'll make it out of this ok. The doctors said if you make it through the night your chances of survival double. I have to believe that you'll make it. I don't know what I'd do without you." She started to cry and couldn't bear to look at him anymore. She quickly stood up and went out of the room.

Lisbon was standing there, trying not to watch Van Pelt talking with Jane. She knew that if she saw her crying she would lose what little control she had left. When Van Pelt came out of the room, she turned and pulled her into a hug. They stood that way for a few minutes, just trying to comfort each other.

When they broke apart Van Pelt didn't say anything. She just tried to smile at Lisbon through her tears and went to the elevator. Left alone, Lisbon sighed deeply and looked into the room. She had wanted to go last and now it was her turn. Slowly, she made her way into the room and took the seat next to the bed.

She picked up his hand like Van Pelt had. She unconsciously rubbed the back of it with her thumb. She just looked at him for the longest time, not knowing what to say. She tried several times to start, but was unable to. Finally she decided to just talk with him like nothing had happened.

"This is a really crummy excuse for being late for work Jane. I mean, if you wanted the day off all you had to do was call in and tell us. You didn't have to get into a six car pileup with a semi truck." She tried to laugh, but it was a strangled sound and quickly turned to a sob.

"Damn you Jane. Why did you have to get into that accident? This is not the way you are supposed to die. This is the easy way out and you have never taken the easy way out." She knew it was pointless to be angry at him, but she couldn't help it. She let go of his hand and used both of her hands to cover her face. She started sobbing quietly. This was going to be a long night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Ebony 10 for being my beta, and for all of the reviews. Bonus point if you can guess what book Cho's reading at the end.

She woke up with a crick in her neck. There was a nurse checking tubes and wires, carefully filling out paperwork on a clipboard with information from various machines. "Did you sleep well last night?" The nurse asked her.

"Um, yeah, thanks for letting me sleep here." The nurses had tried to get her to leave at 10:00—visiting hours had been officially over at 8:00—but she had pulled her badge and had been allowed to stay. She hadn't planned on falling asleep. She figured it had probably happened about 2:00 a.m. She glanced down at her watch and noticed that it was just past 7:00 now. She would have to go home to shower and change at some point.

"Do you know when the doctor will be in?" She asked, standing and stretching.

"Yes, the doctor started his rounds a few minutes ago. He should be in here in a minute." The nurse smiled at her slightly. Lisbon only had to wait a few more minutes before the doctor came in.

"Well, hello, I see Mr. Jane has a very early morning visitor." The doctor said as he walked in the room and say Lisbon. "I'm Dr. Pike." He put his hand out for Lisbon to shake.

"I'm Teresa Lisbon." She shook his hand and then got right to the point. "The doctor yesterday said that if he made it through the night that his chances of survival would double. Is that true?"

Dr. Pike smiled at her. "That is true. The first night is always the toughest. Let me take a look at his chart and at him and I'll let you know." Lisbon sat impatiently in her chair waiting for the doctor to finish what he was doing. When he finished, she looked at him expectantly.

"Well, how is he?" she asked.

"He's still in the coma. His vitals have stabilized. We'll run a few more tests today now that he's stabilized and see how much damage there is. We'll know more then."

Lisbon just nodded. That was not what she wanted to hear. She wanted to know right now if he was going to be ok. Teresa looked at her watch again. It was after 8:00 now. She stood up and pulled out one of her business cards. "I have to go home for a little bit. Can you call me if you have any news? My cell phone number is on the back."

"I can definitely do that, Teresa." He shook her hand and she walked out of the room. She waited until she got to the elevator before she felt the tears streaming down her face. She thought she had cried out all of her tears the night before, but apparently she hadn't.

When she got to the lobby, she realized that they had all driven together to the hospital and that her car was still at the CBI office. She sighed and asked the docent if she could call a cab. She then went outside to wait. She had managed to stop crying by the time the cab got there, but still didn't trust herself to say more than a few words. All she gave the cab driver was the address of the CBI office and they rode the rest of the way in silence.

Cho rode up the elevator. He had waited until he knew visiting time began before coming to the hospital. He figured that he could probably get in earlier by flashing his badge, but he didn't want to do that unless it was absolutely necessary.

Cho stepped out of the elevator and saw the doctor leaving Jane's room. He quickly stepped up to him and stopped him. "I'm Kimball Cho. I work with Patrick Jane. How is he?"

Dr. Pike looked at him in surprise. "I'm Dr. Pike. Mr. Jane sure is a popular guy. You just missed his girlfriend. She just left."

"His girlfriend?" Cho didn't know he had a girlfriend. He wondered if Lisbon had known. Jane didn't seem the type, but you never know.

"Yes," Dr. Pike looked down at the business card that was clipped to Jane's chart, "Teresa Lisbon."

"Lisbon's not his girlfriend." Cho said in a matter of fact tone. "She's our boss."

"That's some boss. She spent the night sleeping in that chair." He pointed to the chair still pulled up close to the bed. "Your friend survived the night. We won't know if there was any brain damage until we run some more tests. If you'd like, you can go in and sit with him. He's scheduled for an MRI and a CAT scan in a couple of hours. The nurse will let you know."

Cho nodded to the doctor and walked into the room. He looked at Jane again and noticed that he looked the same as he had the night before. He was waiting for him to open his eyes and laugh, making a big joke about he managed to convince them all that he was dying and that he should have seen the look on Lisbon's face when she found out. He didn't, though, so he went and sat be his bed.

"Hey, Jane." Cho paused for a minute, not sure how to go on. "You know if this turns out to be a big joke Lisbon's going to kill you." He was silent for a few more minutes. "So I brought a book. My niece is really into the series. They just made a movie out of the first one and the second one is in the works. I've never actually read them, but I figured we could read them together."

He pulled a book out of the bag he had brought with him and started to read. He could understand why his niece loved them so much. She was barely twelve. He got into the rhythm of reading and didn't even notice the time as it slowly slipped away.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the reviews and to Ebony10 for being my beta. The book Cho's reading, for those of you who didn't figure it out, was Twilight. I haven't actually read it, but my sister is in love with Edward. From the previews of the movie I've seen my sister could pull off Bella pretty well. Anyway, I wasn't planing on posting this today, but I hate holding back when I have parts written. Just think of it as a thank you to CBS fro showing an episode last night. Very happy surprise when I came home from work and found it on my DVR.

Teresa Lisbon had been gone from the hospital for only two hours when she walked back through the doors. She felt guilty not knowing if there was someone from her team there to be with Jane. She walked past the front desk to the elevators and was surprised to see two very familiar faces waiting to go up.

"You guys ride in together?" She asked Van Pelt and Rigsby. Neither of them would look directly at her, but Van Pelt finally responded.

"Yeah, well, we shared a cab back to CBI last night, but got sidetracked by a bar and Rigsby ended up crashing on my sofa for the night. We decided to come see Jane before going to get our cars."

The elevator came at that point and the three of them rode up in silence. Lisbon was secretly grateful that neither of them had asked where she had gone last night. She wasn't ready to admit that she had spent all night at the hospital watching over Jane.

They got to the ICU and walked towards Jane's room. They heard a voice coming from inside and saw that Cho was sitting in the chair next to the bed reading his book out loud to Jane.

Lisbon stood in the door way while Rigsby and Van Pelt went into the room. Cho looked up, briefly acknowledging that he knew they were there, and kept reading until the end of the page.

"How's he doing?" Van Pelt asked.

"The doctor said that he's stabilized, but that they won't know how bad the damage is until they get a chance to run some tests later today." Cho was telling them the same information that she had gotten from Dr. Pike that morning so she went in such of the doctor to see if there was anything new.

She was stopped by a nurse at the nurses' station just after she left Jane's room. "Miss Lisbon, I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me." Lisbon was surprised. She didn't think there was anything she would know that the nurse wouldn't.

"You are Mr. Jane's boss, right?"

"Yes." May be they needed his insurance information. She supposed they had the same insurance, but wasn't sure.

"We were wondering if there was any way you could find out who his next of kin is. Maybe it's listed in his employment records?" The nurse looked hopefully up at her.

"Yeah, I can try to track that down for you. Let me go into the office and see what I can find." She couldn't believe none of them had thought about trying to contact his family. Did he even have a family? Maybe his wife's family would like to know what had happened to him.

She really wanted to go and see Jane, but this was important too. Besides, she didn't want to see him with the rest of the team. She was still having a hard time with this whole thing and didn't want the team to see her cry.

She walked back to the elevator and headed back to the lobby. She could have just called the office, but she needed something to do. She walked out to her car and headed to the CBI office, thinking the whole time of Jane and what would happen if he did die. It surprised her to no end when she pulled into the CBI parking lot as she had no memory of how she got there.

"Agent Lisbon, I didn't think you were going to be coming in today." Minelli stood in the door to Lisbon's office watching as she looked through her filing cabinet.

"I wasn't planning on coming in, but the hospital needed information on Jane's next of kin so I'm here looking up his personal file." She had reverted to anger—an emotion she knew well—to mask her worry and fear.

"You could have called. Someone here could have gotten that information." He seemed concerned with the fact that she was here and not at the hospital with the rest of the team.

"It's ok, boss. I'm just going to copy the relevant information and take it back to the hospital. Don't worry. We'll be back to work tomorrow as normal." She didn't say that it would never be normal until Jane was back on his sofa pretending to be a sleep.

Minelli shook his head and walked away. Lisbon waited until she was sure that he was gone before sinking into her chair. This was harder than she had thought it was going to be. Jane's file was in front of her, but she was having a hard time opening it. She sighed deeply and opened to the first page. She started mumbling under her breath as she read.

"Name, date of birth, address, telephone, cell phone…there it is. Next of kin." She looked at it and couldn't believe her eyes. She looked at the bottom of the page where it was signed and dated six months ago. She was listed as his next of kin. She flipped through the rest of the file quickly, but the older copy of the form was not in it.

Why would he have listed her as his emergency contact? It didn't make any sense. What about his family? He had to have someone outside of the CBI, didn't he?


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not a doctor. I really prefer the soft sciences (psychology, sociology, etc.), so let's just assume for the purpose of this story that I am correct on anything medical that I may mention. Keep in mind that most of my information comes from watching ER, House and other such shows and movies. Thanks to every one who read and responded, it's always appreciated, and also to Ebony 10 for being my beta.

It had been a week since that horrible day that the two police officers had showed up at her office and told her Jane had been in a car accident. The team had been back at work for the past few days, trying to solve cases. It was so much harder without him.

They all went to visit him in the hospital after work. Cho went during his lunch break. He was still reading to him from his niece's book. Rigsby and Van Pelt always seemed to go together, in the morning before work. They were riding in together more and more and, although they said they were just friends, Lisbon was starting to think there was something more to it. Tragedy did tend to bring people closer together.

Lisbon for her part was always the last one to leave at night or, rather, in the morning. After that first night she had stayed there every night. She had asked the nurses not to say anything to the team. Not that she would care if they knew she had been keeping a night time vigil next to his bed, but she didn't want them to know how worried she was about him.

According to Dr. Pike, he was out of the danger zone now. His lungs were healing nicely from the puncture and they were going to try removing the breathing tube today. If he was able to breathe on his own, he would be moved out of the ICU. She was concerned that he hadn't woken up yet. His brain signals were strong so he wasn't brain dead, but she still wanted to know why he wasn't awake.

She had managed to convince the doctors to wait until she got there to take the tube out. She wanted to see in person if it worked. If it did he would be moved to the neurology ward. A neurologist was supposed to be meeting with her tonight as well. She hated that she was the one who had to make all of the decisions about this.

Why hadn't he asked her before making her his next of kin? He probably didn't think they would have to worry about it until they caught up with Red John. She had always thought that he would lose his life in his endless pursuit of Red John, but now she didn't know.

She stood outside Jane's room now. She had left work a little early so that they could remove the tube before the rest of the team got here. She was looking in the window at his prone form on the bed when she heard someone come up beside her.

"Well, Teresa," Dr. Pike said, "This is the day. Are you ready for this?"

She turned and looked at him. Of course she was ready. One less machine hooked up to Jane. "Any time you are, Dr. Pike." She was nervous really. She had no doubt that Jane would be able to do this, but it still made her nervous.

The doctor called over some of the nurses and began gathering the things they would need. Lisbon stood quietly in the corner of his room. She didn't want to be in the way, but she wanted to see what they were doing.

"Alright, Teresa," Dr, Pike narrated for her, "We're going to remove the ventilator, but keep the tube in. We're going to see if he's able to breathe on his own. If he can, we'll probably still keep the breathing tube in for a few more days anyway. We'll keep him off the ventilator more and more each day. We want his lungs to get used to breathing on their own again without putting too much stress on them at first."

"I thought you were actually going to remove the breathing tube today." Maybe she had just misunderstood what he had said.

"We're just doing the necessary test to see if he can be weaned off the ventilator. If this works, he will be moved out of the ICU and, after the next couple of days, he'll be off the ventilator completely."

Lisbon just nodded. She was anxious to see if he would be able breathe. The doctor went to remove the ventilator and she unconsciously held her breath, waiting to see if his lungs would rise and fall on their own. She almost cried when, after a few seconds, she heard him take a raspy breath.

"That's good," Dr. Pike said. "Let's keep him off for a few more minutes just to see how he does. We don't want to cause any unnecessary stress on the rest of his body." He looked over his shoulder at Lisbon standing in the corner and came over to her.

"He seems to be doing ok. We'll keep him in the ICU for the rest of the night. I'll see if we can wait until after your friends come to see him in the morning to move him. When we know what room he's going to be in, I'll call you and let you know. With any luck, he might get a room with a more comfortable chair." He chuckled and Lisbon smiled weakly at him.

"Thank you Dr. Pike, for everything you've done for him. When is the neurologist supposed to be here?"

"He should be here any minute now." As Dr. Pike was saying this, another nurse popped her head into the room and told them that the neurologist was indeed here, waiting to talk with Lisbon.

She walked out of the room, still very nervous. He could breath on his own, but still hadn't woken up. What could that mean? They made quick introductions—the neurologist's name was Dr. Harmer—and went into the private waiting room where they could sit and talk with out everyone around them.

"Tell me the truth, Dr. Harmer. How is he doing?" Lisbon was never one to beat around the bush and she felt that, especially now, she needed to know exactly what his chances were.

"It is a little concerning that he hasn't shown any signs of waking up yet. The tests all show that the swelling in his brain has gone down. His brain function is testing as normal. The only concern we have at this point is that the longer he stays asleep, the greater the risk of brain damage."

This news shocked her. She had never considered that he might have brain damage. She always figured he would just wake up one day and be back to normal—the usual Jane doing mind tricks and being annoying. "He will wake up though, right, doctor?"

"At this point, Miss Lisbon, we don't know." Dr. Harmer reached out and took her hand in his. He was trying to be as comforting as possible.

"Please, call me Teresa." She paused for a minute, trying to come to grips with the information she had just been told. "When will you know?"

"We'll do some more tests in the morning when we move him. Until then, try not to worry. Go home get some sleep. Let us worry about him for the night."

"Thank you for the suggestion doctor." She made no move to get up so Dr. Harmer did instead.

"We'll see you in the morning if you can make it in. If not, I'll see you tomorrow afternoon." He shook her hand and left.

Lisbon sat in the same spot for what seemed like hours, but was in reality just a few minutes. Her eyes felt raw from trying not to cry and she had a lump in her throat the size of a golf ball. She didn't want to go out and face the rest of the team like this. There was no doubt that they had gotten here by now. They knew that today was the day they were going to try to remove the breathing tube. She had told them all this morning. So she just sat there. They would all go home eventually and she would see them all at work the next day. She could give them the news then.

Rigsby, Cho and Van Pelt were all riding up in the elevator together. They knew Lisbon had left early to come to the hospital to be with Jane when they tried to take the breathing tube out. They chatted quietly about work. Rigsby teased Cho for reading Jane a "chick" book. They were all just trying to not think about what was going on in his room right now.

When they got to the right floor, they slowly made their way to Jane's room. They had made this trek so many times in the last week and, for the first time, they were all apprehensive about it. They got to his room and noticed the nurses still inside.

"Hey, look at that," said Rigsby with a slight chuckle.

Van Pelt stared into the room and said with a note of awe "He's breathing."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In honor of a new episode tonight I decided to post this chapter earlier than normal. That and I really have no interest in reading about the ethics of advertising on spring break. I would much rather be playing out side in the nice weather with my kids. As we only get like a month and a half on nice spring weather before summer hits in mid May, the fact that I have a major paper due the week after spring break is killing me. Sorry for rambling. Thanks to Ebony 10 for being my beta and to every one who reviews, especially those that review every chapter. It's nice to see all the reviews.

It had been two weeks now since the accident that had put Patrick Jane in the hospital. Two weeks since Teresa Lisbon had found out that he had listed her as his next of kin. He was completely off the ventilator now, breathing on his own.

Lisbon wasn't at the hospital. Cho was there, reading him the second book in the series that his niece had given him. She was pretty sure, despite the ribbing he got for it from Rigsby, that he was enjoying reading more than Jane would even enjoy hearing him read. Rigsby and Van Pelt were supposed to be meeting him there later. They were going to be bringing dinner—Chinese food. Van Pelt had hoped that the smell might help him come out of it, but Lisbon doubted it.

She was standing outside a large house with floor to ceiling windows. She had never been to Jane's house before and was surprised at how big it was. He must have really done well as a TV psychic. The doctor had recommended that she bring him some pajamas to wear. He was now only hooked up to a few machines and they said he would probably be more comfortable in real pajamas instead of the gowns provided by the hospital.

She looked down at the ring of keys in her hand. She had gone to the salvage yard where they had taken his mangled car in order to retrieve them. She was almost afraid to go in, to disturb his house, but she did any way. It was oddly dark inside and it had an unused smell to it. The first thing she noticed when her eyes adjusted to the light was that there was practically no furniture—just a table by the door. She figured his bedroom would be up the stairs and slowly began to walk up them.

She felt like a trespasser in his house and kept having the feeling that someone was watching her. She wasn't sure what room would be his so she tried all of the doors. The first was a bathroom, the second his daughter's room. She suspected it looked the same as it did the day she died. The last door she tried was the one at the end of the hall. By process of elimination this must be the master bedroom and where his wife had died.

She paused with her hand on the knob. Why she was afraid to open the door, she didn't know. It was just a room, like any other. She had been to many crime scenes, even Red John ones. She opened the door and was shocked by what she saw. There on the wall was a smiley face drawn in blood.

She stared at it, not sure what to think. It was still on the wall, right above the bare mattress on the floor. Is this where he slept? No wonder he spent all his time at the CBI. If she had this on her wall, she wouldn't want to spend time at home either.

Lisbon took a deep breath and walked into the room. There was no other furniture, just the mattress. She walked over to what she figured was the closet. She opened the door and was tempted to grab one of the suits that were hanging up. He slept in them all the time. She'd never seen him in anything else.

She quickly grabbed pajamas out of the chest of drawers that was in the closet—they looked like they hadn't been worn in ages—and left the room. She was glad to be free of it.

"He just doesn't look right." Van Pelt and Lisbon were standing at the end of Jane's bed looking at him. He was wearing the pajamas that Lisbon had brought him from home, blue and white stripes.

"I was going to bring something else, but couldn't see asking the nurse to put him in a three piece suit." Lisbon was smiling slightly. It seemed like the first time in days.

She had talked to the neurologist again this morning. There was apparently no medical reason that Jane shouldn't be awake. He just hadn't woken up yet. He was encouraging Lisbon to consider moving him to a different facility, not a hospital. She didn't want to move him yet. She was still holding out hope that he would wake up soon, maybe even today.

"I need to go. I'm meeting Rigsby for dinner. Call us if anything changes, ok?" Van Pelt turned to Lisbon as she spoke.

"Sure thing, have a nice dinner." She waved slightly as the younger woman left. The room Jane was in now didn't have a window, but it was a private room, which was nice. She sat down next to him and started talking. It was something she had started to do recently. She figured that when he was awake she was never able to get a word in edge wise.

"You should paint over it, you know." She didn't bother telling him what she was talking about. She knew he'd be able to figure it out. "It's no wonder you have a hard time sleeping." She paused again, not sure what to say. "You should have told us, Jane. You know so much about all of us and we don't know anything about you. You just need to let someone in."

She stopping talking again and picked up his hand. "I don't know what I'm going to do if you don't wake up, Jane. You've come to mean so much to me." She could feel her eyes welling up with tears again. She had cried more in the past two weeks than she had in the past two years. She stopped crying abruptly when she felt a slight pressure on her hand.

She looked down at her hand and saw his firmly grasping hers. She gasped. He was holding her hand! She had to let the nurses know. She pressed the call button and waited for the nurse to come in.

"He's squeezing my hand." She said excitedly when the nurse came in.

"That's great news. He's never done that before. Has he done anything else unusual?"

"No," she looked pack down at him and noticed that his eyes were looking back at him. "His eyes! His eyes are open!" She couldn't believe it. He was awake. Or at least he had opened his eyes. "Jane, can you hear me?"

The nurse also started talking to him. "Mr. Jane, can you hear me? Do you need anything?"

Jane looked around slowly. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He moved his hand to his mouth in the form of a cup. "Water? Do you want water?" the nurse asked.

Jane slowly nodded his head. Lisbon quickly grabbed an unopened bottle of water out of her bag and opened it for him. She held it up to his lips and slowly helped him take a drink. "Is that better?" she asked.

He nodded and then opened his mouth again. This time noise came out, but they still couldn't understand what he was saying. "I can't understand you, Jane. Just take your time. It's been a while." Lisbon told him, sitting back down next to him in the chair she had occupied every night since he had been in here.

He cleared his throat and motioned for more water. After he had taken another drink he cleared his throat again and opened his mouth to speak. This time they could understand the words.

Jane looked right at Lisbon and asked "Who are you?"


	8. Chapter 8

"If this is one of your stupid tricks I swear I will shoot you." Lisbon said with a note of anger and fear in her voice. He had to be kidding. She didn't want to think about what it would mean if he wasn't joking.

"Why would I try to trick you? I don't even know you." He asked in a scratchy voice. He looked honestly confused.

The nurse had managed to alert the doctor that Jane had woken up and he was now in the room. "Teresa," Dr. Harmer said calmly, "Why don't you go wait outside for a minute while I take a look. Ok?"

She nodded her head slowly and numbly walked out of the room. She stood in the hall trying to wrap her mind around what was going on. She had thought that when Jane woke up things would be better. The only thing physically wrong with him now was his broken leg and even that was healing nicely. She hadn't even thought about his mind not being ok.

He was all about his mind power. He had a photographic memory. How was it possible for him not to remember anything? Was she going to have to tell him that his wife was dead? Or about Red John? She had the sudden thought that she hadn't called anyone on the team to let them know he was awake. She pulled out her cell phone and hit speed dial number 3.

"Cho," she said when the phone was answered, "Jane's awake."

"Why don't you sound as happy as you should?" Asked Cho.

"Just call Rigsby and Van Pelt and come down to the hospital ok?" She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes again and knew, if he asked any more questions, the tears would start again. She was not normally an emotional person, but these past few weeks were just wearing her down.

"Ok, boss." Was Cho's response and they both hung up the phone.

Lisbon leaned up against the wall. She just couldn't take it anymore. When was it going to be over? She thought he was lost when he had been in the accident. When she saw his bright blue eyes looking up at her she thought that all of the worrying would be over. Now she was back in limbo.

She was sitting on the floor with her back up against the wall and her head on her knees when the team showed up. Her eyes were read and swollen, but she had stopped crying. She looked up when she heard the steps coming towards her. She stood up and brushed herself off, trying to straighten herself out.

"What's going on? How's Jane?" The team was walking all at once. Lisbon was trying to figure out what to say when Dr. Harmer came out of Jane's room and shut the door behind him.

"Good, you're all here. I'll be able to explain to all of you what's going on." Dr. Harmer took a deep breath and looked around at the people who were surrounding him. They all cared about the man in the room behind him in their own way and what he was going to tell them was going to be hard for them to take. "Mr. Jane is suffering from retroactive amnesia, probably due to the brain injury he suffered in the accident. Other than the amnesia, he seems to be doing fine mentally."

"How can he have amnesia and be fine mentally?" Asked Lisbon at the same time that Van Pelt asked, "How bad is his amnesia?"

Dr. Harmer looked at the people surrounding him and noted the anxious looks on their faces. "Other than the memory loss, his reactions are fine. He can answer common sense questions and is mentally alert. As to what he's forgotten, it seems that he's forgotten everything that has happened in the last 15 years."

"What, he thinks its 1994?" asked Rigsby with disbelief.

"Yes, he does. If you'd like to go in and see him that's fine, but until we know how complete his amnesia is, be careful about what you say to him. We'll decide on a course of action in the next couple of days."

The rest of the team went into the room to see Jane for themselves, leaving Lisbon in the hall with the doctor. "Are you going to be ok, Teresa?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm going to be fine. I'm just in a little bit of shock. 15 years is a long time. It's going to take some getting used to."

He patted her on the shoulder and walked off. They would talk tomorrow about how to help Jane. Tonight she was on her own. She tried to remember what was going on in 1994 that would be different from today. Really big cell phones, no DVDs—even CDs had been too expensive for most people. No flat screen TVs or HD, huge laptops, no I-pods. She thought again. He hadn't been married in 1994, hadn't even known his wife to the best of her knowledge. If he really couldn't remember anything that would mean he didn't remember his wife or daughter…or Red John killing them.

She had often wondered what Jane had been like before Red John had killed his family. Now she was going to get a chance to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Normally I put this at the top, but I have a feeling no one would have read it. I know 15 years is a long time, but I thought a lot about it before I decided on it. I figured Red John Killed Jane's family 5 years ago, his daughter looked to be about 7 (although I am a bad judge of age) in the flash back where she was playing the piano. That's 12 years. I wanted him to not remember his wife at all, so I figured dating for at least a year and married for at least one before they had his daughter so that's 14 years. Add one year just as a buffer and you have 15 years. And just as a reminder, I'm not a doctor, and while I did do a little research on amnesia, I have taken creative license with this, a lot of creative license.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Ebony 10 for being my beta and to every one who reviewed, they really are appreciated.

Lisbon waited for the rest of the team to leave before going in to see Jane. When they left the room they all looked a little shell shocked. They had worked with him for years, spent every spare moment with him in the past two weeks. They looked a bit like she had felt when he had asked her that question "Who are you?"

She knocked on the door and slowly went in the room. "Hey, Jane, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine. I suppose I'm supposed to know you, too?" He looked tired and more than just a little annoyed. Lisbon decided to try a different way.

"My name's Teresa Lisbon. Technically I'm your boss." She smiled at him. She wanted to go and sit in her regular chair, but didn't want to make him uncomfortable so she stayed standing at the end of his bed.

"Technically? What is it that we do? The other people wouldn't tell me." He almost looked like himself for a minute.

"What do you remember doing?" She hadn't had a chance to go back and look at his file. Was he working as a TV psychic 15 years ago?

"I had been talking with a television producer about a TV show. I'm a psychic." He was trying to impress her, she could tell.

"You're not on TV anymore. You work as a consultant with the CBI." She hoped that she hadn't said too much. Maybe he wouldn't ask why he wasn't on TV anymore.

"What do you mean I'm not on TV anymore?" No such luck. He had asked. Lisbon thought for a moment about how to say why he was no longer on TV without telling him about Red John.

"You are not a psychic. You are a spectacular fake. You were found out and came to work for us. Our team has an uncanny ability to close cases. We haven't been doing nearly as well with you in here." She tried to smile at him, but it was more of a sad smile than a happy smile.

Jane looked at her with a quizzical look on his face. "Go ahead and sit down. I know you want to." Lisbon nodded and sat down in the chair next to his bed. "Aren't you going to ask me how I knew?"

"No. You wouldn't tell me anyway. If I had to guess, I would say that you saw me looking at the chair and figured that I wanted to sit down, but wasn't comfortable doing so without being asked."

He looked a little shocked. "That's right."

"Too many years working with you, Jane." They sat in silence for a few minutes before he continued questioning her.

"How long ago did I start working with you, Teresa?" He asked quietly. She could tell that he was getting tired.

"You never call me Teresa." She didn't answer his question. She didn't want to. She wanted to stay as far away from anything that would bring up why he was working with them.

He looked over at her in the chair with a puzzled look on his face. "Why not? It's a beautiful name. It fits you very well." Despite her best efforts, Lisbon felt herself blushing. "You didn't answer my question."

Lisbon sighed. "We've been working together for about three years. You joined the team after Cho and Rigsby. Van Pelt's been with us for a little less than a year."

"Tell me about what I do. I'm not a cop. You said I was a consultant. What is that?" He was beginning to look more alert and all Lisbon wanted to do was tell him to go to sleep.

"You work your magic on the suspects and are, in general, a pain in the ass."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He chuckled a little.

"For example, we had a case where a Russian mobster stole a painting. We couldn't do anything about it, but you decided that wasn't good enough. You got Cho and Rigsby to go along with you and stole the painting back. Do you know what I had to do to keep you out of trouble for that one?"

"Wow, I really am a pain in the ass." They both laughed at his remark. When they stopped there was an uncomfortable silence again. "What aren't you telling me?" He turned slightly in the bed to face her more completely.

"What makes you think I'm hiding something?" How had he figured it out so fast?

"You seem nervous. The others seemed nervous too. Why would that be?"

"Jane, you've been in a coma for two weeks. You wake up and don't remember the last 15 years of your life. Of course we're nervous." Anger, she could handle anger. Anger she was good at. "We were all afraid you were going to die! What if you never get your memory back? None of us knew you 15 years ago. We don't know what you were like. What if you can't make it work? We wouldn't be able to do it without you!"

"Feel better?" Jane asked with a smirk.

Lisbon just shook her head and stood up "You should really get some sleep. It's been a long day for you."

"Sit back down, Teresa. I didn't mean to laugh at you."

"Yes, you did." She said as she sat back down.

"Who are you to me?" He asked.

"I'm your boss." Lisbon said. What else would she be?

"I know that, but are you sure that's it? You said that 'we' didn't know what to do about me being in the hospital. I got the feeling that it was you who wouldn't know what to do. The nurse told me you sat with me every night."

"We all care about you. Cho came here and read to you on his lunch breaks. Rigsby and Van Pelt came before work and after work every day. We all cared about you." Defensive, another emotion she could handle.

"Yes, but they all went home. You are still here." He looked at her, trying to figure out what she was thinking.

She stood up again. "Good night, Jane. I'll come to see you in the morning." She walked towards the door.

Just as she was leaving she heard him say "Good night, Teresa."


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Ebony 10 for beta, and to every one who reviewed. And to every one in the US, don't forget to buy your Girl Scout cookies while you have the chance!

Lisbon stood, looking at Jane's large house. She remembered very clearly the first time she had been there only a week before. She shouldn't get that face out of her mind. The doctors were releasing him from the hospital today. He still had to be on bed rest, but he didn't have to stay at the hospital.

She couldn't bear the thought of him staying in the big empty house all alone. Especially with that face on the wall. He still hadn't regained his memory of the past 15 years and dropping him off at this house was not how she wanted to broach the subject of his family's murders. If she had it her way, they would never tell him what had happened.

That was why she was standing outside of his house now. She was going to get his things and he was going to stay with her. She had an extra room that she used as an office and as a guest room when friends of family came to visit from back east. She would figure out what to tell him later. Right now, she was more concerned with getting in and out of his house as quickly as possible. It gave her the willies just being there.

He was getting restless. He had been sitting in the same hospital bed for a week now. He could barely get up to go to the bathroom with his leg in a cast and it was really starting to get to him. He was still coming to grips with the fact that he had apparently lost the last 15 years of his life and that, too, was really starting to get to him.

He had decided that he really liked his co-workers. They had been the only ones to come to visit him in the hospital. It was a little bit of a shock to him that they seemed to be his only friends. He had asked Teresa—he wouldn't call her by her last name no matter how many times she asked—what he had done that had landed him in such a state.

What had she said? Oh yes, "You pissed of a very powerful person." No more explanation than that, no matter how hard he tried. He could tell that she was usually powerless to his charm, but for some reason she was sticking to her guns on this one. The entire team was, too. He couldn't get any of them to say what went on that caused him to get kicked off TV and land a job as a "mentalist" for the CBI.

He had spent a good deal of his time with the team, analyzing them. He supposed that he had probably already done it once, but he didn't remember it. It was obvious that Rigsby and Van Pelt were in a relationship—a new one at that. They hadn't been together long and seemed a little unsure about it. It was cute, really. He had a feeling that his accident had been the tip off for their relationship. He felt slightly proud about that fact.

Cho was a slight puzzle to him. He came and sat with him during his lunch, but half the time he was reading a book that Jane had never heard of. Cho had said that it was as big as Harry Potter, but Jane had no idea what that was either. Cho didn't talk much, which was fine with Jane. When he did talk, it was about the cases they had worked on together. There had been a case where he had nearly been trapped in a fire. This seemed to amuse Cho very much.

It would seem that he took it upon himself to do stupid crazy things to get a confession. It was like he had a death wish or something. It puzzled him why he would do some of the things that he did. It had to go back to why he was no longer working as a psychic.

Teresa…oh that woman, she was the one that puzzled him the most. First was her insisting on being called by her last name. She was afraid of getting too close to him and it puzzled him. Had there been something between them before his accident? Maybe, but probably not. More likely she was afraid of something happening between them and then him regaining his memory and destroying it all.

It made him wonder again what he had done before he joined the CBI. Could it be awful enough for her to deny that she was attracted to him and almost avoid him? She still spent more time with him than anyone else, but not nearly as much time as before he woke up. From the nurses he found out that she used to spend the night next to him in the chair. They had told him she spent a lot of time crying and talking to him. Anger seemed to be her favorite emotion—one that she was used to using on him, not that she stayed angry for long. In the week he had been awake he had seen her lose her temper at him at least five times. Usually when he started to ask personal questions.

It was a mystery to him why she wanted to close herself off the way she did. Her life would really be much easier if she would just open up. He wouldn't need to ask as many questions. He was thinking about it when Lisbon walked through the door to his room. "Gorgeous as always, Teresa. How are you today?"

Lisbon rolled her eyes. "I'm great, Jane. Are you ready to blow this joint?"

"Ready as I'll ever be. Did you bring me some clothes?" He noticed the bag that she had in her hand.

"I did. Not your usual three piece suit, but I couldn't see cutting the leg off one of your suites."

"I wear three piece suits to work? Seems a little formal."

"That's just what you do. I brought you jeans. I figure we can figure out where we need to cut them off to get your cast on." She pulled a worn looking pair of jeans out of the bag and tossed them at him, placing the bag on the end of the bed. "Let me find a nurse." She wandered back into the hall again, leaving him alone to try to reach the bag and the rest of his clothes.

A nurse came in a few minutes later, alone. "Where'd Teresa go?" he asked as the nurse took a pair of scissors out of the cart next to his bed.

"She said she didn't want to be here while you were getting dressed. She's talking to the doctor about what you can and cannot do."

He thought about it for a minute while getting dressed. "What is she going to do," he asked, "follow me home?"

"No," Lisbon said coming in the room, "you're following me home."


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the last pre-writen chapter, so now the updates are at the mucy of my job and children. I will update as I write, probably every other day, that's about the speed that I write. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews and to Ebony 10 for the beta.

"I live with you?" Jane asked with disbelief.

"Yup. Now, unless you want to walk there I suggest you get moving." Lisbon said, hoping that she came across as convincing. The doctor brought in some paperwork, which Jane quickly signed, and they left the hospital to head to her apartment.

"How long have I been living with you?" Jane asked as they entered Lisbon's apartment slowly. Jane had declined the use of a wheel chair, insisting that he would be able to use crutches with his leg.

"Just a couple of months. The owners of the building you were in decided to remodel and you haven't had a chance to find a new place. I had a spare bedroom so you've been staying here." Lisbon refused to look at him, knowing that if she did he would be able to tell she was lying.

"So where's all my stuff? I mean, I don't imagine I moved any of it in here." Jane had collapsed onto the sofa.

"It's all in storage." She said quickly, cursing herself for exhibiting one of the signs of a lie—answering too quickly. "Do you need anything?" She looked over and was not surprised to see that he had managed to sprawl all over her sofa.

"Can you help me prop my leg up? You have no idea how much it hurts." If she didn't know better she would think that it was the same old Jane. That was until he opened his eyes and said "Teresa, did you have the pain killers that they gave me at the hospital?"

"Yeah, I do." After she got him situated on the sofa she went toward the bedrooms, but instead of going into her room she entered her guest room instead. She had grabbed most of his clothes from his house, but they were still haphazardly strewn on the bed where she had dropped them with the help of Van Pelt and Rigsby. She quickly put the clothes away and then went into the bathroom to make sure that his things were in the logical places.

It seemed odd to see his things in the shower and his razor on the sink. She didn't know if she would ever get used to it and wondered if she would have to. He could get his memory back any day and this would all be over. She hoped that he would understand why they hadn't told him about his past.

"Teresa, that is not making me want to get out of bed." Jane hollered through his pillow at the closed door that Lisbon was currently pounding on.

"It's your first day back at work, and I am not going to be late. So unless you want to walk to work with your broken leg, I suggest you get up and get moving." It was only 7:00 but she knew that it took him forever to shower, especially with his broken leg. She waited until she heard rustling inside the room before she moved to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. Since Jane hadn't been coming into the office she had started to brew her own coffee again. She liked the stuff he brought better.

She was pouring a bowl of cereal when she heard the shower start. She wondered what he was going to wear to the office. His cut off jeans weren't exactly appropriate, but she couldn't see him cutting off the leg to one of his suits. He only had another week in the cast anyway. He had been lucky that the break hadn't been very bad, just a slight hair line fracture.

She was sitting in the living room watching the morning news when she heard him walking down the hall. His crutches had a loud creaking noise to them and she enjoyed the fact that he hadn't been able to sneak up on her since he got out of the hospital.

"Why in hell's name are we up so early? I know for a fact that you don't usually get up until 7:30 at the earliest, usually closer to 8:00. It's like you're having a love affair with your snooze button most mornings. Really, it makes it hard for anyone else to get sleep."

"You just need to go to bed at a decent hour. You knew you were going back to the office today and yet you stayed up until 1:00 watching TV. It is your own fault."

"How is it my fault? You didn't have to stay up with me." He was in the kitchen now pouring his own bowl of cereal and cup of coffee. It was still unusual for her to see him drinking coffee. He had always drunk tea as long as she had known him. "A little help here, please!" He called from the kitchen.

Lisbon sighed and went to help him carry his bowl and mug into the living room. She had wanted to tell him to stay in the kitchen to eat, but knew that he would call attention to the fact that she had not. It was no use trying to tell him that she paid the rent and could do what she wanted. He would just harp on her until she gave in.

"If you get milk anywhere but in your mouth, I'll break your other leg." She said, half joking as she carried the bowl into the living room. She sat down again and looked at what he was wearing. "Where did you get those pants?" He was wearing a pair of khaki pants. They had to be some of the most unflattering pants she had ever seen him in and couldn't remember bringing them from his house.

"They were in my drawer. I remember buying them, although I don't think I have ever worn them and, judging by the look on your face, I probably won't after I get my cast off." He picked up his bowl and started eating.

"I hope you don't. They've been cut off above the knee. They would be inappropriate for most things." She looked at him, again appraising his outfit. Despite the unattractive pants he didn't look half bad. He was wearing a button up shirt, but no vest or jacket. Then there was his hair.

"Please tell me you are not going to wear your hair that way." She had really hoped that the slicked down thing hadn't started until after he was on TV, but apparently it was something that he had done before.

"What's wrong with it? I always wear my hair this way when I'm going to work." He self-consciously ran his hand over his hair as if to make sure it was still laying flat.

"Sorry, I guess I'm just not used to seeing it that way. You don't usually slick it back. You usually just let your curls show through."

Jane smiled widely at her. "Do you like my curls, Teresa?"

She could feel herself blushing and quickly grabbed Jane's empty bowl, taking it into the kitchen. "Let's go. I like to get to work a little early. It will give me a chance to relax before everyone gets there. Without you there, there's been a lot less paperwork."

Jane stood up slowly. He was getting better on the crutches, but he was still unsteady and slow. "Well, I'm back now so let's get to work, shall we?"

Lisbon shook her head. It was going to be a long day.


	12. Chapter 12

Jane was sitting at his desk. When he had got there it had taken the team a few minutes to remember that he even had a desk. He had never used it before, preferring to do his work lying down on his sofa. But Jane didn't remember that and so he sat at his desk instead. He had the bottom desk drawer pulled out and his broken leg was propped up on it. It was his first day back at work and so far he was finding it incredibly boring. Cho was also apparently bored or, at least, didn't have anything to do. The rest of the team was out interviewing the family of the murder victim in their latest case and Cho had been left behind to "baby-sit." He was taking the opportunity to catch up on his reading.

Jane didn't know why Lisbon refused to take him with her. She said that he might be a consultant still, but was more of a liability in the field with his leg the way it was. He didn't know why he needed a babysitter either, but Lisbon had insisted that he not be left unsupervised. Apparently Minelli had said that if Jane did anything stupid while he was in his current state Lisbon would be the one held responsible. From the look on Lisbon's face as she was relaying the news to the team, Jane would guess that it was not unusual for her to get in trouble for what he did.

He was starting to doze off when Lisbon's voice caused him to open his eyes. "Sleeping on the job? I suppose some things never change."

"Do I sleep at work often? Doesn't seem very professional." He was awake fully now. He had never really been asleep to begin with.

"It wouldn't be you if you weren't asleep on the job," Cho said from his desk without looking up from his book.

Jane decided to ignore Cho's comment and instead turned to Lisbon. "Do I get to do something now? Because this whole sitting here doing nothing thing? I could be doing that back at your place."

Lisbon rolled her eyes "Yes, Jane, you can come observe Cho in interrogation. Just observe, not participate." She led the way to the observation room. They watched Cho with the suspect in silence for a while. Lisbon was starting to think that Jane had lost interest when he suddenly spoke.

"He's lying! I can feel it." He had a smug look on his face and Lisbon wasn't having any of it.

"You can feel it? Give me something I can work with here. What do you think you are? Psychic? Remember, you're good, but not psychic." She was still looking in the room trying to see what Jane saw that would give the suspect away as lying. "He's looking down and to the left. He's definitely lying, but not about committing the murder. He's lying about where he was last night. Probably with another woman. I'll have Van Pelt check it out."

"How do you know all that?" Jane looked a little crest fallen. He had never seen anyone come to the same conclusions as he did so quickly.

"I've been spending too much time with you. You can stay here and finish watching if you'd like, but no interfering. I don't want to botch this case because you couldn't keep your mouth shut." With that, she walked out of the room in search of Van Pelt.

Jane waited until he saw Cho leaving the interrogation room and then went out to talk with him. "That guy's lying." He said with confidence. Just because Lisbon seemed to know didn't mean that Cho had picked up on it.

"Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks, man, I'll tell Lisbon." He started to walk off.

"What? Aren't you impressed?" Jane was a little peeved. He was used to people being in awe of him. This was ridiculous.

"You're kidding, right? I bet Lisbon figured it out, too." He walked away, leaving Jane standing in the hall trying to figure out what he was going to do.

Jane had been back to work for a week now and was really having a hard time. He was used to being able to impress people just by looking at them, but the team seemed impervious to his normal charm. He had been able to use his normal charm and psychic-like abilities on the suspects in their current case—at least they had been impressed.

He was sitting at his desk again. He really wanted to sit on the sofa next to his desk, but was trying to maintain a professional feel. He had noticed that no one ever sat on it. Lisbon occasionally sat on the arm, but other than that no one went near it. It puzzled him. It looked comfortable and definitely worn, but no one ever sat on it. He couldn't think about that now though. He was waiting impatiently for Lisbon. He was supposed to get his cast off today.

"Teresa!" He called when he saw her coming near. "Are you ready to go yet, gorgeous? I can't wait to get this thing off my leg."

Lisbon restrained a sigh. She couldn't wait to be done chauffeuring him around. He was becoming very irritating. "Better get a move on then. I'm leaving now with or without you."

"It wouldn't do much good for you to go to my doctor without me. You'd just have to come back." He smirked at her, but she just shook her head and walked toward the elevator. He quickly grabbed his crutches and stood up, trying to get to her before the elevator came.

At the doctor's office Jane spent most of his time flirting with the nurses and charming the doctor who, even though he was a man, still wasn't impervious to Jane's charm. It was really starting to get on Lisbon's nerves. In the past week he had taken to analyzing and reading anyone he could get his hands on, showing off his "psychic" abilities. The staff at the doctor's office was no exception. It was when he made the receptionist cry by mentioning her dead father that she decided she had had enough.

"You need to cut it out, Jane. We all know you're not a real psychic. It's getting a little annoying." They were back at the office now, standing just outside of the kitchen. "Just save your mind reading for the suspects, ok?" She was trying to be gentle. He still didn't have any of his memory back and was still trying to get his footing at the CBI.

"You fascinate me, Teresa. Did you know that?" He had stopped moving and was now looking at her. No, staring was a better word for it.

"What?" She wanted nothing more than to just go into her office, shut the door and pretend that Jane wasn't here. It would seem, though, that she was as fascinated with him as the nurses at the doctor's office had been. She couldn't seem to make her legs move under his intense gaze.

"You are a very strong woman. You had to grow up very fast, didn't you? Your mother abandoned you when you were young and you were left to raise your brothers without much help from your father." He opened his mouth to say more, but wasn't able to get a word out as Lisbon spun around and slapped him in the face. Her eyes flashed with anger as she yelled at him.

"Do NOT ever try to read me, Jane. You think that we're all just toys for you to play with. You're forgetting that I know all about you. You do not want to cross me." She looked like she was going to say more, but changed her mind. This was not the right way to tell him about Red John. Instead, she stormed away and just barely managed not to slam her office door as she shut it.

"Dude, you're an idiot," said Rigsby, walking by with Cho and Van Pelt.

"What did I do?" He really had no idea. He was just trying to do his thing with her. Isn't that what they paid him for?

"A big idiot." Cho added, going to sit at his desk.

"Do you really have no idea?" asked Van Pelt, coming and standing next to him.

"I was just trying to do what I do best." He walked into the kitchen and sat down. His leg was killing him. He had no idea that his leg would hurt so much after getting his cast off.

"What? Pissing off the boss?" Van Pelt replied, coming in after him and sitting across the table from him.

"No. I was just doing what I know how to do best, telling people about themselves. Why would she get mad?" He played with a napkin on the table. It was a nervous habit, something that he had been working to get rid of. He had hoped that in 15 years he would have overcome it, but it didn't seem that way.

"We don't talk about our personal lives in this unit—at least, that's what Lisbon says. She hasn't had the best past in the world." Van Pelt paused for a minute and took the napkin away from Jane before he could shred it to pieces. "Do you ever think to ask her about her life, instead of just guessing?"

"I don't make mistakes." Jane was being defensive now. Was she really saying that asking someone was easier than doing what he did?

"Really? Because Lisbon's mom didn't abandon her. She was killed by a drunk driver. Her dad turned into a drunk and she practically raised her younger brothers. He ended up killing himself and then she really did raise her brothers by herself. Next time you're going to read someone, you might make sure you get it right before you tell them. You might get more than just a slap on the face—you might get blown up."

She stood and walked out of the kitchen at that point, leaving Jane to think. What did she mean blown up? Had that really happened? The way she said it made him think that it might have. He had really screwed it up this time. He was just trying to impress her. He liked her, that was sure, but she didn't seem to like him. Sure, it had seemed that way when he was in the hospital, but since he'd been out her patience had seemed to grow thin with him. Maybe he should lay off for a while, give her time to get over being mad at him. Time always seemed to help.

He sat there for a few more minutes before getting up to go talk to her. He hated apologizing, but it would probably be the best thing to do in this case. He went to her office and knocked before going in. He was surprised to see her office empty. He walked into the bullpen. "Has anyone seen Lisbon?" He asked loudly so that everyone could hear him.

"Yeah, she went home," said Cho. "She said that you could find a way back to her place tonight if you want or you could just sleep here for all she cares."

Jane just stood there looking at them. He really had pissed her off.

Jane did not want to ask anyone in the team to give him a ride back to Lisbon's place that night, but he didn't want to spend the night sleeping on the CBI sofa either. In the end, he ended up calling a cab, hoping that when he got back to Lisbon's apartment she would let him in. He slowly walked up to her door and knocked.

"Go away, Jane!" She called without even coming to the door.

"Teresa, please let me in. I just want to talk to you." He hoped that she would come to the door and, sure enough, a few seconds later she ripped open the door, glaring at him. She held it open for him to come in.

She walked into the apartment and sat on the sofa. She had the TV on, but Jane could tell that she wasn't really paying attention. He stood in the doorway for a minute before going over to sit on the sofa next to her. "I had a talk with Van Pelt after our 'disagreement' today. I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

Lisbon just snorted. She didn't believe him. She knew Jane. If anything, an apology from him was a manipulation tactic. She wanted to tell him off again, but knew that he was looking to get a rise out of her.

"Teresa, I mean it. I read it wrong, I'm sorry." He reached over and grabbed her hand, not allowing her to pull away. "I had no idea about your mom."

"I know you, Jane. I've seen what happens when you get it wrong. You've almost gotten killed before because you don't always get it right. The last time it happened, Rigsby and Van Pelt almost went with you." She stopped, clearly trying to contain her emotions. He placed his other hand on her shoulder.

"I will try, Teresa, but there is only so much I can do. I am who I am." He was trying to reassure her, but he didn't know if it was working. She pulled herself away and stood up.

"Just keep your magic for the suspects, ok? Don't try to work over the team. We've been through a lot together and we don't need your attempts at mind reading tearing us apart." She slowly walked toward her bedroom leaving Jane on the sofa to contemplate what she'd said.

Blood, everywhere. Covering everything—his hands, the room. He didn't know where he was but it all looked and felt familiar. There was something on the wall. He walked toward it, a smiley face in blood.

Jane woke with a start. He was dripping sweat and his heart felt like it was going to break out of his chest. That dream—no, nightmare—had been so real, like he had seen it before. He couldn't stay in bed. He had to get up. The darkness seemed to swallow him up as he searched for a light.

Finally he turned on the lamp and he realized where he was. He was safe. He was at Teresa's apartment. He was safe.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know how long this story is going to be now, and this is the second to last part. Forgot to say in the last part that the inspiration for it came solely from Ebony10. I had actually written this part before the last one, and was completely stuck, so it's all thanks to her that this part is even being posted. Thanks to every one who reviewed. Snack suggestion for tomorrow nights episode, or for this story, Hagan daz Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream

"I'm just saying that he's become even more of a smug, arrogant bastard than he usually is. Ever since that day he tried to read Lisbon, he's just been getting worse." Rigsby said quietly looking around to make sure no one could over hear.

"So, you're saying Jane is being even more like himself?" Cho said in his normal dead pan. It had been almost a month since Jane had returned to work with the team and he was becoming an even bigger pain in the ass than he usually was.

"I think I preferred the charming narcissist to the smug arrogant bastard. He's even worse than he was before the accident. I know he was almost heartless before his family was killed, but this is ridiculous." Van Pelt put in. They were trying to decide what to do with Jane.

"Lisbon needs to tell him soon or someone is going to hurt him and it's probably going to be me." Rigsby said. He was the most upset of all of them. They had been at a crime scene earlier and Jane had almost completely destroyed the young witness right in front of him, bringing up things in the witnesses past that had no bearing on the case. They were going to be lucky if they were able to get the witness to talk to them again, let alone testify.

"How do we decide who tells her?" Van Pelt said, clearly not wanting to be the one who had to break the news to the boss.

"We can flip a coin." Cho said.

"There are three of us. Do you have a three sided coin?" Rigsby asked sarcastically.

"I'll flip for you two. Then the winner will flip for me and the loser," Cho responded as if it was obvious.

"Alright, let's do it." Rigsby said pulling a quarter out of his pocket.

A few minutes later, a knock sounded on Lisbon's office door. "Come in" she called distractedly, not looking up from the papers sitting on the desk in front of her.

"Hey, boss, is this a good time to talk?" Asked Cho.

"Cho, good. I needed to talk to you. Get Rigsby and Van Pelt, too. Try not to make it obvious. I don't want Jane to know." She acted as if she hadn't heard his question and went back to looking at a paper on her desk, almost in disbelief.

"Jane's still at lunch. You should have never taken him car shopping the other day. He's having way too much fun with his new car."

"Good. Well, let's try to hurry before he gets back." Lisbon was obviously distracted so instead of pushing the issue Cho quickly left the office and came back with Rigsby and Van Pelt.

"Come on in, guys, and shut the door." Lisbon said when they were all there. She waited until the door was firmly shut before talking again. "A letter was delivered to my apartment for Jane this morning."

"He's living there. That's not unusual." Said Van Pelt, not sure where Lisbon was going with it.

"It is, actually. Jane's mail is being forwarded to a P.O. Box, not to my apartment. And this letter was not delivered through the mail—no post mark. It was dropped in my mail box." She paused and held up the envelope so that they all could see Jane's name typed on the front of the envelope. "It was odd so I brought it to work and just opened it a minute ago. Van Pelt, can you read it out loud?" She handed her the piece of plain white typing paper that had been folded to fit in the envelope.

"'Mr. Jane, You seem to have forgotten your lesson. I don't normally give warnings, but in your case I will make an exception. Repent of your sins now or I will have to remind you of what you have learned.' Van Pelt paused when she came to the end and the color drained from her face.

"Who's it from?" Asked Cho although he already knew. Instead of saying anything she held up the letter so that they could all see the red smiley face drawn on the bottom.

"Red John." Said Rigsby, "But how do we know what he's planning to do?" It was then that they noticed that Lisbon was still looking at something on her desk. Silently she held up a picture. It was of her and Jane at lunch about a week ago, sitting on the patio of a little sandwich shop around the corner from the CBI offices. Jane's face was not visible in the photo, but Lisbon's face was clear and next to her head was drawn the same red smiley face.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last part. I hope you all enjoy it. Thanks to every one who reviewed and to Ebony 10 for being my beta. I recommend Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs as a snack while reading this. I love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, but the Eggs are just that much better.

Jane walked into the CBI building whistling. He waved at the guard as he walked by and nodded to one of the secretaries on his way to the bullpen. He stopped whistling when he got to the bullpen, seeing the looks on the faces of the people sitting there.

"What's wrong?" He asked, slightly worried. He had never seen the team looking so somber before.

"Lisbon needs to talk to you." Cho said, his voice noticeably lacking emotion.

Jane turned to walk to Lisbon's office and was surprised to see her standing behind him. "We're going for a ride Jane. I'm driving." She walked off toward the elevator, not looking to see if he was following or not.

They rode in silence for a while. They hadn't turned the radio on and, normally, Jane would have said something about it, but the way that Lisbon was acting had him slightly on edge. Finally he couldn't stand it any longer. "Are we going to a crime scene? Because we probably should have brought the others."

"It's a crime scene, but there's no need to bring the others. It's a cold case." She didn't volunteer any more information. After about half an hour of driving, they were winding their way through one of the more affluent neighborhoods in town. They came to a stop outside a large house with visible floor to ceiling windows. Lisbon got out of the car and stood on the sidewalk in front of the house, still close to the car, waiting for Jane to get out and join her.

"Jane," she said when he got out of the car and stood by her. "I have something to tell you, or show you—both, really. About your past. It's not going to be easy." She paused to take a deep breath and was surprised when Jane pushed her up against the side of the car and kissed her. She was too stunned to do anything, but that only lasted for a few seconds before her body took over and she started kissing him back. They stood on the sidewalk making out like teenagers for what seemed like forever, but was really only a few short minutes when the rational part of Lisbon's brain woke up and told her it was wrong to be kissing the man who's heart she would break with what she was about to tell him—the worst possible thing. Reluctantly she pulled away from him, which was difficult considering how close they were and the fact that she was pressed up against the car.

"What did you do that for?" She asked, slightly breathless. She was a bit stunned and having a hard time looking at him in the face.

"I didn't think you would let me after I tell you what I have to tell you." He said, reaching out and grabbing her hand, pulling her close to him again.

"What are you talking about?" She was still having a hard time concentrating. Her heart was just starting to slow down.

"Teresa," he started then stopped again. He leaned up against the car pulling her next to him so that they both were looking at the house. "Lisbon, I remember. All of it. I have for a little less than a month. That night I got my cast off, I had a nightmare. All I could remember was the blood, but it came back quick after that. My wife, my daughter, that horrible day, Red John. Everything." As he was talking, the grip he had on her hand tightened.

"Why didn't you tell us? Why keep pretending that you couldn't remember? Why the show?" She wasn't sure why he had kept up the pretense of not remembering anything, why he had kept being the jerk that everyone hated.

"At first it was just easier. I was only remembering bits and pieces at first and, eventually, it just became second nature. I realized that I preferred people not walking on egg shells around me. I had the fact that I couldn't remember anything to hide behind when I did something stupid at work. But it's starting to wear on me. I was purposely being a pain in the ass to get you to tell me. But that's not why we're here right now, is it? You're not angry," he turned at looked her in the face for the first time since he started talking. "You're scared. Why?"

"You got a letter at my place." She stopped. She didn't want to say more. Her plan had sounded so much easier to her when she was at the office.

"I've never gotten any mail at your apartment before. Where did it come from?" He was trying to help her out by asking leading questions and, for once, she didn't mind.

"It wasn't delivered by the mailman. There was no post mark or anything like that. It was just dropped in the mailbox." She stopped again, trying to think of how to say what was in the envelope. "I opened it. I thought it was odd and I didn't want it to be something to do with your past and Red John and you not remember and, well, I had my reasons." She was talking too fast now, rambling a little bit. Jane just stood there like he knew what she was going to say next.

"I don't really know what I expected when I opened the envelope: junk mail, hate mail, nothing important. What was in there shocked the hell out of me. Apparently Rigsby isn't the only one who's pissed off at the way you've been acting lately." She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper that had been folded as if to fit into an envelope. "This is just a copy. I left the actual letter back at the office for forensics to look over." She handed it to him to read. The color drained from his face quicker than it had from Van Pelt's earlier that day.

"Red John." Those two words carried more emotion and pain than his entire speech had earlier. "What else did he send? It couldn't have been just this."

Lisbon sighed. She was hoping he wasn't going to ask. She pulled another piece of paper out of her pocket as well. "Just a copy." She told him as she handed it to him. He looked at it only seconds before he crumpled it up into a little ball in his fist. His face was distorted with anger and frustration.

"Nothing is going to happen to you, Teresa." He still used her first name, but for the first time she didn't mind. "I will find him and I will make sure of it."

She had never seen him this intense, not even when he told her of his plans for Red John that first time. "I'm a big girl, Patrick." His first name felt foreign on her lips, but seemed more appropriate in the current circumstance, "You don't have to worry about me. I think we just need to show him that you haven't forgotten."

"I hope you're right. If you are, what do you think I should do?" He looked sad now. Like his moment of anger had passed, but she knew that it lingered just under the skin, waiting to come back and attack at any moment.

"I think you need to go back to living the way you did before. Staying at your house, sleeping on the sofa at work, anything that was considered normal for you before the accident." She hated telling him this. She really wanted to say to forget about Red John, that they would handle him if he made good on his threat, but she knew that wouldn't be enough for him. He had enough guilt about his family's deaths. He didn't need the added guilt if something were to happen to her.

"Yeah, you're right. There's just one more thing I want to do before that happens though." He pulled her to him again and kissed her. It wasn't as intense as the last time, but still as powerful. It almost seemed a little sad and when they broke it off this time it wasn't with the same breathless excitement.

"You really should have done that sooner. I could have got used to that." Lisbon said quietly, pulling away and moving back to the other side of the car so she could get in. "Let's go, Jane. We've got work to do." They both got in the car and Lisbon started to drive. "I'm expecting a call from Minelli any minute now. I told the team to give us an hour before they told Minelli." As if on cue, her cell phone started to ring. It was indeed Minelli. "We're headed back now, boss. I know it was risky coming out, but I needed to make sure Jane remembered before I told him what was going on. Yes, I know. We'll be there soon."

"Looks like he's mad," Jane said quietly.

"Yeah, but he'll get over it. He always does." They sat there in silence for a few more minutes, neither of them wanting to say anything. When Lisbon started to get off the freeway, Jane finally broke the silence.

"Uh, Teresa...Lisbon, this isn't the right exit." He looked over at her nervously. He couldn't read the expression on her face. It was one he had never seen before.

"I know, just hold on a minute, ok? There's something I wanted to do before we go back." He just nodded his head, trusting her judgment. Still, he checked out the back window to see if anyone were following them. He was surprised when they pulled into a small wooded park. They parked in a spot that was impossible to be seen from the street. There was no one around that he could see.

"Teresa." He was finding it hard not to call her that now that he had been using her first name for more than a month, "What are we doing here?" Almost before the question was out of his mouth, Lisbon was out of her seat and straddling his lap. She was pressing her lips to his and kissing him like there was no tomorrow. It only took seconds for him to get over the initial shock and react to her. They were so focused on each other that neither of them noticed the man in the woods looking at them and taking pictures.

His face was hidden by the camera and the large hooded sweatshirt that he wore. He was snapping pictures in quick succession and chuckling to himself quietly. He had shown up here on a hunch, knowing that this little park was between Jane's house and CBI headquarters. He would leave the charlatan alone for now, but if Jane ever needed to be put in line again, he knew just the way to do it. He waited until the couple in the front seat were done and had driven off before coming out of the shadows. He now had all the ammunition he would ever need to make Patrick Jane his.

Authors Note: What, that's it! You can't end it there! See I know what you're going to say. I can end it there and I did. I may come back to this at some point and do a sequel, wouldn't that be fun? As always remember to review, reviews make me happy and encourage me to write more, so please review, even if it's just to tell me how annoyed you are at the way this ended.


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